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Remaining unstoppable this season, Holyoke’s Dragon varsity team blew away the back-to-back weekend competition to win their 12th and 13th victories of the season. Traveling to Akron on Friday, Jan. 30, Holyoke took a big win of 55-26, then hosted Chase County on Saturday, Jan. 31, beating the Longhorns 56-39. Coach John Baumgartner could not complain about the way his team played over the weekend, saying, “the kids were outstanding.” “Right now, they’re doing everything right,” he said. “They’re playing with a lot of confidence and shooting extremely well. Hopefully, we can keep it up.”Holyoke 55, Akron 26 For the second time this season, Holyoke defeated the Akron Rams in league acton on Friday. The Rams never stood a chance against their opponents who leaped ahead 17 points in the first quarter. Austin Tharp and Evan Swanson each landed two shots from three-point range. Dragon’s defense held Akron to only four points in the first. “We shut down Akron’s two top players,” said Baumgartner. “They only had four and two points each the whole game.” Again in the second quarter, HHS players continued to put distance between them and the Rams. At halftime, they held a comfortable lead of 27 points. Tharp led the scoreboard in the first half, earning 10 points each in the first and second quarters. In the second half it was Kyle Carper who dominated the game, making eight of HHS’s nine points in the third quarter and six of nine in the fourth. Akron earned nearly the same amount of points in the second half as Holyoke, putting up eight points each in the third and fourth quarters. Howevever, the Dragons had such a large advantage from the first half, they easily won by 29 points. Tharp and Carper were top scorers Friday night, adding 21 and 19 points respectively. Overall, the Dragons had a 63 percent shooting average. Carper grabbed the most rebounds with 10, and Ryan Baumgartner and Austin Tharp snatched four steals each.StatisticsHolyoke 55, Akron 26 2 3 FT F TP FGTharp 4 3 4-6 0 21Baumgartner 1 0 1-2 1 3Carper 9 0 1-3 1 19Wailes 1 0 0-0 0 2Swanson 0 2 0-0 2 6Krueger 2 0 0-0 1 4Brown 0 0 0-0 1 0King 0 0 0-0 1 0TEAM 17 5 6-11 7 55AkronTEAM 8 3 1-4 13 26Scoring By QuartersHolyoke 21 16 9 9 --55Akron 4 6 8 8 --26

Holyoke 56, Chase County 39 Again on Saturday, the Dragons quickly gained a strong lead in the first half against Chase County. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a team score that much in the first halves, in back-to-back games like that,” said Baumgartner. However, he added, he would have liked to see them keep it up more through the second half of the game. According to the coach, the Longhorns had some big players who played with a different style from what the Dragons were used to, but Holyoke handled it well. “They were all over the place,” said Baumgartner, “on the floor, grabbing rebounds and making shots from the outside.” Five Dragons contributed to the 23 points Holyoke put up in the first quarter alone. Carper attained the most baskets with three two-pointers and two free throws. HHS continued to increase the lead in the second, holding Imperial to 10 points while adding 17 points to their own total to bring the halftime score to 40-19. Chase County did their best to catch up in the second half of play, but Holyoke’s advantage was too great to overcome. The Longhorns were allowed 20 more points, compared to HHS’s 16, but the Dragons still won by 17. Swanson had a great game Saturday, leading the team in points with 15, including three baskets from behind the arc. Not far behind him were Carper with 14 and Tharp, 13. Though they had only a 48 percent field goal shooting average, the Dragons had their highest free throw average so far this season with 91 percent. “I was pleased with how many free throws they made,” said Baumgartner. “We’ve really been working on those lately.” Nearly every Dragon who made an appearance on the court Saturday brought down several rebounds, giving Holyoke 24 total compared to Chase County’s 18. HHS also had 22 assists, led by Baumgartner with six. In steals, Holyoke had a total of 17 while the Longhorns had only four. Tharp grabbed the most with five.StatisticsHolyoke 56, Chase County 39 2 3 FT F TP FGTharp 2 1 6-6 0 13Baumgartner 0 2 0-0 2 6Carper 5 0 4-5 3 14Wailes 0 0 0-0 2 0Swanson 3 3 0-0 3 15Krueger 1 0 0-0 2 2Brown 3 0 0-0 2 6TEAM 14 6 10-11 14 56Chase CountyTEAM 14 1 8-11 14 39Scoring By QuartersHolyoke 23 17 10 6 --56Chase County 9 10 11 9 --39Upcoming action Dragons also competed at Benkelman, Neb. on Tuesday, Feb. 3. Results of that game will appear in next week’s Enterprise. On Friday, Feb. 6, HHS will host Wray, with action beginning at 4 p.m. The team then travels to Burlington on Saturday, Feb. 7 to take on the Cougars at 3 p.m.